This measure would honor the late Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and commemorate Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
This measure would designate the month of January 2018 as Gang Awareness and Prevention Month in the State of California and would encourage cities and constituents across the state to observe the month with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities to prevent future gang activity and honor those who lost their lives due to gang activity.
Existing property tax law requires the county auditor to allocate and pay certain property tax revenues to designated local jurisdictions within the county in accordance with specified formulas, including allocating and paying additional revenues generated by a rate levied in excess of the 1% limitation prescribed by the California Constitution on ad valorem taxes on real property, as specified. Existing property tax law requires these allocations and payments to be made on a timely basis but no later than 30 calendar days after the close of the preceding monthly or 4-weekly accounting period. Existing property tax law authorizes these allocations and payments to be made on a biannual basis for a county with a population of 500,000 or less. This bill would instead require those allocations and payments to be made on a timely basis no later than 31 calendar days after the close of the preceding monthly or 4-weekly accounting period. The bill would instead authorize those allocations and payments to be made on a biannual basis for a county with a population of 1,000,000 or less.
Existing law, the California Private Postsecondary Education Act of 2009, provides, among other things, for student protections and regulatory oversight of private postsecondary institutions in the state. The act is enforced by the Bureau for Private Postsecondary Education within the Department of Consumer Affairs. The act exempts certain institutions from its provisions. This bill would require each institution that is subject to the act's provisions to submit to the bureau, for each of its debt-dependent programs, as defined, specified information regarding each person in a graduating cohort, as defined, of an academic year commencing with the graduating cohort for the 2010–11 academic year. The bill would require the bureau to obtain federal student loan debt and median and average earnings for each person of the graduating cohorts, as specified, determine the total amount of student loan debt incurred by these persons, and make available to the public certain data, including student loan debt and earnings data, for each debt-dependent program offered by the institution. The bill would authorize the bureau to, among other things, require the institution to provide warnings to current and prospective students regarding its programs with high debt burdens relative to earnings and deny approval to operate for a new program that is substantially similar to a program that has exhibited high debt burdens, as determined by the bureau. The bill would provide that its provisions shall be implemented only to the extent that implementation is in compliance with state and federal privacy laws. The bill would make its provisions operative only if specified federal regulations are suspended or repealed.
(1) Existing federal law, the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, regulates, among other things, the quality and packaging of foods introduced or delivered for introduction into interstate commerce and generally prohibits the misbranding of food. Existing federal law, the Nutrition Labeling and Education Act of 1990, governs state and local labeling requirements, including those that characterize the relationship of any nutrient specified in the labeling of food to a disease or health-related condition. Existing state law, the Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law, generally regulates misbranded food and provides that any food is misbranded if its labeling does not conform with the requirements for nutrient content or health claims as set forth in the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act and the regulations adopted pursuant to that federal act. Existing law requires that a food facility, as defined, make prescribed disclosures and warnings to consumers, as specified. A violation of these provisions is a crime. Existing state law, the Pupil Nutrition, Health, and Achievement Act of 2001, also requires the sale of only certain beverages to pupils at schools. The beverages that may be sold include fruit-based and vegetable-based drinks, drinking water with no added sweetener, milk, and in middle and high schools, an electrolyte replacement beverage if those beverages meet certain nutritional requirements. This bill would establish the Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Health Warning Act, which would prohibit a person from distributing, selling, or offering for sale a sugar-sweetened beverage in a sealed beverage container, or a multipack of sugar-sweetened beverages, in this state unless the beverage container or multipack bears a health warning, as prescribed. The bill also would require every person who owns, leases, or otherwise legally controls the premises where a vending machine or beverage dispensing machine is located, or where a sugar-sweetened beverage is sold in an unsealed container, to place a specified safety warning in certain locations, including on the exterior of any vending machine that includes a sugar-sweetened beverage for sale. (2) Under existing law, the State Department of Public Health, upon the request of a health officer, as defined, may authorize the local health department of a city, county, city and county, or local health district to enforce the provisions of the Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law. Existing law authorizes the State Department of Public Health to assess a civil penalty against any person in an amount not to exceed $1,000 per day, except as specified. Existing law authorizes the Attorney General or any district attorney, on behalf of the State Department of Public Health, to bring an action in a superior court to grant a temporary or permanent injunction restraining a person from violating any provision of the Sherman Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Law. This bill, commencing July 1, 2018, would provide that any violation of the provisions described in (1) above, or regulations adopted pursuant to those provisions, is punishable by a civil penalty of not less than $50, but no greater than $500. This bill would also create the Sugar-Sweetened Beverages Safety Warning Fund for the receipt of all moneys collected for violations of those provisions. The bill would allocate moneys in this fund, upon appropriation by the Legislature, to the department for the purpose of enforcing those provisions. The bill would make legislative findings and declarations relating to the consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages, obesity, and dental disease.
Existing sales and use tax laws impose a tax on retailers measured by the gross receipts from the sale of tangible personal property sold at retail in this state, or on the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of tangible personal property purchased from a retailer for storage, use, or other consumption in this state. Those laws provide various exemptions from those taxes. This bill, on and after January 1, 2018, would exempt from those taxes the gross receipts from the sale in this state of, and the storage, use, or other consumption in this state of, tampons, sanitary napkins, menstrual sponges, and menstrual cups. The Bradley-Burns Uniform Local Sales and Use Tax Law authorizes counties and cities to impose local sales and use taxes in conformity with the Sales and Use Tax Law, and existing laws authorize districts, as specified, to impose transactions and use taxes in accordance with the Transactions and Use Tax Law, which generally conforms to the Sales and Use Tax Law. Amendments to the Sales and Use Tax Law are automatically incorporated into the local tax laws. Existing law requires the state to reimburse counties and cities for revenue losses caused by the enactment of sales and use tax exemptions. This bill would provide that, notwithstanding Section 2230 of the Revenue and Taxation Code, no appropriation is made and the state shall not reimburse any local agencies for sales and use tax revenues lost by them pursuant to this bill. This bill would take effect immediately as a tax levy.
Existing law establishes a workers' compensation system, administered by the Administrative Director of the Division of Workers' Compensation, to compensate an employee for injuries sustained in the course of his or her employment. Existing law authorizes the commission to conduct a continuing examination of the workers' compensation system. Existing law authorizes the commission to conduct or contract for studies it deems necessary to carry out its responsibilities. This bill would prohibit a study that is conducted or contracted for by the commission from being funded or commenced prior to a public hearing on the purpose and design of the study, the sources from which the required data will be obtained, and the proposed researcher or entity. The bill would require a majority vote of the commission to approve the study and the researcher or entity selected to perform the study. The bill would prohibit payment for a study if those requirements are not complied with.
The Teachers' Retirement Law establishes the State Teachers' Retirement System (STRS) and creates the Defined Benefit Program of the State Teachers' Retirement Plan, which provides a defined benefit to members of the program, based on final compensation, credited service, and age at retirement, subject to certain variations. STRS is governed by the Teachers' Retirement Board. Existing law limits the postretirement compensation of a member of the Defined Benefit Program of the Teachers' Retirement Plan to an amount calculated by STRS, as specified. If the member's postretirement compensation exceeds this amount, the law requires the member's retirement allowance to be reduced by the amount of excess compensation. Existing law, however, permits members retired for service from STRS to perform member activities without being subject to the compensation limit under certain limited conditions and circumstances, including, until June 30, 2017, to work as an appointed trustee, fiscal adviser or fiscal expert, receiver, or special trustee, as specified. This bill, until January 1, 2023, would exempt from the postretirement compensation limit the compensation of a member retired for service who was a classroom teacher, as defined, who has returned to work to fulfill a critical need in a position due to a teacher shortage in the area of special education, mathematics, science, or bilingual education. The bill would require a local school district, county office of education, or other local educational agency exercising this exemption to submit specified documentation to substantiate a retired member's eligibility.
